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The Chimney Sweeper / Blake
The Chimney Sweeper is the title of 2 poems by William Blake, published in Songs of Innocence (1789) and Songs of Experience (1794)."William Blake Page", The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, & the Arts The Chimney Sweeper (1789) ;from Songs of Innocence When my mother died I was very young, And my father sold me while yet my tongue Could scarcely cry 'weep! 'weep! 'weep! 'weep! So your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep. There's little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head, That curled like a lamb's back, was shaved: so I said, "Hush, Tom! never mind it, for when your head's bare, You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair." And so he was quiet; and that very night, As Tom was a-sleeping, he had such a sight, - That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, and Jack, Were all of them locked up in coffins of black. And by came an angel who had a bright key, And he opened the coffins and set them all free; Then down a green plain leaping, laughing, they run, And wash in a river, and shine in the sun. Then naked and white, all their bags left behind, They rise upon clouds and sport in the wind; And the angel told Tom, if he'd be a good boy, He'd have God for his father, and never want joy. And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark, And got with our bags and our brushes to work. Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy and warm; So if all do their duty they need not fear harm. . The Chimney-Sweeper (1794) ;from Songs of Experience A little black thing among the snow, Crying "'weep! 'weep!" in notes of woe! "Where are thy father and mother? Say!"-- "They are both gone up to the church to pray. "Because I was happy upon the heath, And smiled among the winter's snow, They clothed me in the clothes of death, And taught me to sing the notes of woe. "And because I am happy and dance and sing, They think they have done me no injury, And are gone to praise God and his priest and king, Who make up a heaven of our misery." Background The poem, ‘The Chimney Sweeper’ is set against the dark background of child labor that was well-known in England in the late 18th and 19th Century”. At the age of four and five, boys were sold to clean chimneys due to their small size. These children were oppressed, and had a diminutive existence that was socially acceptable at the time. In the earlier poem, a young chimney sweeper recounts a dream had by one of his fellows, in which an angel rescues the boys from coffins and takes them to a sunny meadow; in the later poem, an apparently adult speaker encounters a child chimney sweeper abandoned in the snow while his parents are at church or possibly even suffered death where church is referring to being with God. Recognition American poet Allen Ginsberg set the 1789 poem to music, on his 1969 recording of the Songs of Innocence and of Experience.Songs of Innocence and Experience by William Blake, tuned by Allen Ginsberg, Penn Sound. Web, May 20, 2019. See also *Other poems by Blake References Notes External links ;Text *"The Chimney Sweeper: When my mother died I was very young" at the Poetry Foundation ;About *"A Perfect Discomfit," Slate. *"Analysis of "The Chimney-Sweeper" by William Blake'' at Social Science Medley'' [[Category:1789 poems] Category:1794 poems Category:Poetry by William Blake Category:Text of poem Category:18th-century poems Category:English poems